RECO Baltic 21 Tech - Towards Sustainable Waste Management in the Baltic Sea Region

17 October 2013, Minsk, Belarus

The conference "Cornerstones for sustainable waste management in the Baltic Sea region" is the final conference of the Interreg IVB project RECO Baltic 21 Tech "RB21T".

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RB21T aims to improve waste management in the BSR by identification and exchange of good practices, to consider waste as an asset for innovations, business opportunities and employment. During the conference the main outputs of the project will be presented. We are glad to present highly qualified and interesting speakers representing academic, public and private stakeholders. We look forward to informative speeches, thoughtful discussions and a fruitful exchange between participants.

17 - 21 September 2013, Hamburg, Germany

The Summer Course is already fully booked and we cannot take any new registrations. Thanks for your interest!

Up to three billion tons of waste is produced in the European Union every year (EC, 2010).

The amount of waste created globally is expected to increase up to 27 billion ton p.a. in 2050 (Tanaka, 2007) due to changing consumption patterns, i.e. higher living standards and lifestyle changes leading to more consumption. Waste management is, therefore, a topic of major concern in Europe and elsewhere. It is understood as the procedure of monitoring and handling waste from collection, transport, treatment (processing), recovery and recycling to final disposal of the remaining residual waste. However, good waste management begins with preventing waste generation and minimising quantities of waste. A typical waste management hierarchy is prevention, minimisation, reuse and recycling, recovery and disposal.

20 - 22 June 2013, Opole, Poland

Sustainability issues have become so common in many fields of socio-, political- and economic life, that it is often forgotten that it requires new approaches, and a change in rules guiding human activity , ways of thinking and governance structures. There exists the need to understand the interactions in institutional change between socio-economic systems, technology , product innovation and a transition path towards more sustainable production structures.

15 - 18 May 2013, Minsk, Belarus

Sustainable Development (SD) is a modality of development that meets the needs of the present generations, without compromising the ability of future ones to meet their own needs. This definition, presented in 1987 at the publication "Our Common Future" (Brundtland Report) of the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), is still widely applicable today.

At the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 1992, the document "Agenda 21" was adopted by representatives of 179 countries. In this document, the concept of sustainable development acquired a greater internatonal meaning and relevance. More recently, a the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) held in held Rio de Janeiro in June 2012, the document "The Future We Want" was adopted. This document defines new horizons for sustainable development. Rio+20 Secretary-General, Mr. Sha Zukang, pointed out that "The Rio+20 Conference was a landmark event of far-reaching historic significance. Addressing a large number of inter-linked challenges through inclusive consultations and negotiations, Rio+20 achieved a balanced and action-oriented outcome, reflecting the positions and commitments of all nations".

The 4th RECO Baltic 21 Tech Newsletter is now available online:

Sustainable energy – energy that is accessible, cleaner and more efficient – powers opportunity. It grows economies. It lights up homes, schools and hospitals. It empowers women and local communities. And it paves a path out of poverty to greater prosperity for all. But nearly one in five people around the world do not have access to modern energy services. Twice that number, three billion people, rely on wood, coal, charcoal or animal waste for cooking and heating. In today's economy, this is inequitable – a major barrier to eradicating poverty. The energy future we need is one in which everyone has access to modern energy services, where energy resources are used more efficiently, and where countries increasingly invest in renewable sources.

WAMPS- a software tool for waste management planning

As part of the Reco Baltic 21 Tech project, the IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute has developed a software application called WAMPS (Waste Management Planning System). The application enables the users via a web interface to carry out calculations in order to compare the environmental performance of different types of waste management systems. This is based on life cycle assessment (LCA).

RECO Baltic 21 Tech group now on Linked in.

RECO Baltic 21 Tech now on facebook.